The invention relates to a method for storing and handling elongated rods, such as drill rods and rock bolts, by means of a rod magazine arranged to an end of a boom. A plural number of rods are stored side by side into a linear rod magazine and moved in the magazine by means of one or more feed members. A feed member transfers the rods in the magazine towards or away from a feed station, depending on whether rods are being loaded into or unloaded from the magazine. The rods are then transferred to a drilling or bolting line, i.e. into a centre, with transfer means. During the transfer, a rod to be transferred is held with gripping members provided in the transfer means.
The invention also relates to a rod magazine, and to a rock drilling unit and a bolting unit provided with a rod magazine. The field of the invention is defined in greater detail in the preambles of the independent claims.
A rock drilling rig to be used for long-hole drilling may be provided with a rod magazine where drilling tools, such as drill pipes and extension rods, may be stored and handled by using a mechanism provided in connection with the rod magazine. The rod magazine is installed into a drilling unit in such a way that rods may be added between the rock drilling machine and a drill rod assembly already in a drill hole with the handling mechanism from the magazine and, correspondingly, rods may be removed from the assembly and returned into the rod magazine. The handling mechanism provided in connection with the rod magazine may comprise turning arms, or the like, provided with gripping means. With the turning arms a rod may be transferred from the rod magazine to the drilling centre and, correspondingly, returned from the drilling centre to the rod magazine. Prior art rod magazines include rotating magazines and linear magazines. A disadvantage observed in rotating magazines is their large width, which makes them difficult to arrange to a feed beam. U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,618 discloses a linear magazine, in which the rods are stored one on top of the other in a vertical line and the rods are fed in the magazine by means of feed'plates provided with grooves. The rod magazine of the US publication has a complex structure and its operational reliability has proved to be insufficient in demanding conditions.